MACC1 Expression Correlates with PFKFB2 and Survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objective: To validate the relationship between MACC1 and 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose 2, 6bisphosphatase (PFKFB2) expression as well as its clinicopathological features and prognostic significancein hepatocellular carcinoma.
Methods: By using immunohistochemistry, we investigated the MACC1 andPFKFB2 protein expression in 60 pairs of hepatocellular carcinoma and corresponding non-tumor tissues.Using the Mann-Whitney U test, the Chi-square test, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, Cox proportional hazardregression analysis and Spearman analysis, we studied the relationship between MACC1 and PFKFB2 proteinexpression and postoperative overall survival (OS) of the HCC patients.
Results: MACC1 and PFKFB2 positivestaining rates were significantly higher in hepatocellular carcinoma than in the corresponding nontumor tissues(P=0.012 and 0.04, respectively). The clinicopathological features evaluation revealed that positive expressionof MACC1 was associated with a high Edmondson classification (P=0.007) and advanced TNM stage (P=0.027).Similar findings were evident for PFKFB2 expression (P=0.002 and P=0.027). MACC1 and PFKFB2 positiveexpression was associated with a lower OS rate (P=0.004 and 0.03, respectively). Kaplan-Meier survival andCox proportional hazard regression analyses revealed MACC1 positive expression to be a prognostic factorfor postoperative OS, but PFKFB was not.
Conclusion: Highly expressed MACC1 and PFKFB2 protein wereassociated with TNM stage, Edmondson –Steier classification and overall survival. MACC1 may affect tumormetabolism partly through expression and phophorylation of PFKFB2.